


Stay

by LadyRamora



Category: FFXIV, Final Fantasy XIV
Genre: Angst, Feels, Hopeful Ending, Kissing, Other, This was a fireworks prompt, this is sad
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-09-15
Updated: 2015-09-15
Packaged: 2018-04-20 21:47:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,393
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4803413
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LadyRamora/pseuds/LadyRamora
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The Warrior of Light makes a wish, and dreams a dream.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Stay

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Popoto](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Popoto/gifts).



> This was a prompt from Popoto. She's always prompting me, it's bad! I have so many things to work on already! I'm sorry that it's taken me so long to update my other stories. /grovels in apology/ T-T

Ooohooo  
The reason I hold on  
Ooohooo  
Cause I need this hole gone  
Funny you're the broken one  
But I'm the only one who needed saving

 

Fireworks flare across the sky in bright, booming burst of color, painting your face with every loud explosion. You stare up at the sky, ignoring the festivities going on around you in favor of your own thoughts. 

It is times like these, when there are no battles to be fought, no primals to be defeated, that you allow yourself to become lost in your thoughts. To become swept up in the imaginings of a different life. One you could have had. If only you had told him not to come. Forbade him as his father had. 

The look of hurt on his face would have been well worth saving his life. Oh, how you ached to look upon that face once more. You smile bitterly as tears drip down your cheeks. 

I wish... 

You shake your head, tearing your eyes away from the sparks of flame in the night, to stare instead down at your own hands. It doesn't bare wishing for something that can never come true. 

"Do you not wish to join the festivities?" A voice says behind you, muffled by the loud sound of the fireworks overhead. You turn, wiping at your tears, expecting to find Alphinaud or even Ser Aymeric. 

The face that greets you stops your heart.

You stare with wide eyes, tears spilling down your cheeks anew as Lord Haurchefant smiles at you, cocking his head to the side. You stumble back a step, raising a hand to your mouth. "You... I saw you. You were-" Your voice has taken on a strangled quality, words hard to force pass your lips.  
Haurchefant smiles. "Dead? Indeed, I am."

You stare at him, confused. "Then how...?"

He steps forward into your space, holding a hand up to the light. You tear your eyes away from his face to look at it. Now, in the light of the lanterns glowing above you, it is clear that he is partially translucent. "Then, you're not really here at all?" You laugh, the once happy sound now mostly a sob. 

Haurchefant smiles gently, shaking his head. You close your eyes as he reaches out to touch your face. Tears leak hot from your closed eyelids. "Come now, no more tears. A face such as yours should always be smiling." You blink your eyes open to stare at his hand inches from your cheek. You look at his face, confused. He shrugs, smile sad. "You're dreaming, my dear. I want nothing more than to touch you, rest assured.'Tis a wish not to be borne. I am merely a spirit lingering in dreams of the living. You would not feel me were I to even try."

You frown, feeling distraught. "What use is a dream where I cannot touch you? Are you even here at all, or just a fabrication of my heart?" You close your eyes, willing away the fireworks and festivities. You open them to find Haurchefant looking about the room, grinning as he was wont to do. He turns to look at you, positively beaming. "You would bring me here? I have missed this place dearly." You look around the room, taking in his desk in the back of the room, the faceless forms of the knights standing guard. "I apologize if it isn't quite right."

 

Haurchefant shakes his head, walking over to his desk. He strokes a hand over the top, face surprised as his fingers make contact. You both stare at his hands as he raises them up to his face. He's solid now. You're across the room before you realize, reaching out to touch him. He meets you halfway, face eager. You both inhale sharply when your hands touch. 

Haurchefant chuckles, curling his fingers over yours. "I should not be surprised. You have always been special. In all the dreams I've visited, never have I been able to touch someone until now."

He leans down to press a kiss to your knuckles, a grin curling at his mouth sweetly. You smile through your tears, feeling choked up to even dream such a thing. "I wish you were really here. If only I had stopped you. I could have told you-" You drop your head, staring down at the floor instead. You can't bare to meet the forgiving blue of his eyes.

Haurchefant sighs. "Ahh. None of that now, my dear." You shake your head, raising shaking hands up to cover your mouth as sobs build up inside of you. You jerk, startled as Haurchefant rests a hand on your bowed head. You look up to meet his eyes. He smiles gently at you, tilting your head up with two fingers crooked under your chin. "Will you not smile for me?" 

Your lips tremble with emotion. You don't think you can.

"'Tis true that every expression made by that face is ever so attractive. Yet verily glad would I be to see you smiling. Would you give me that?" You laugh abruptly, nodding your head. He grins at you, opening his arms in a welcoming gesture you've missed so dearly."Come now. Are you not happy to see me?"

You throw yourself into his arms, sobbing in relief as he catches you. He is warm, somehow. You don't know how it's possible that you can feel him here, but you are so grateful for whatever power allows this small mercy. He lowers you both to the ground, resting on his knees. You cling tighter as he moves, you don't want to let go again.

He makes a soothing sound deep in his throat, smoothing a hand down your back as you fall apart in his arms. "You needn't cry now. Though I am unable to touch you in the waking world, I will always be watching over you. You may not be able to hear my voice, but I will have you know I am cheering for you every step of the way." 

You pull back from his arms, smiling and wiping at your eyes. Haurchefant reaches into his armor, pulling a handkerchief out of thin air. You blink, taking it from his fingers as he offers it to you. You dab at your eyes, staring down at it when you finish. You trace your fingers over the initials sewn in to the cloth, smiling. H.F. sewn in ever so neatly. You look up as Haruchefant speaks, feeling so much better to see his face. 

"How unique this dreamscape of yours seems to be. I have never been able to do such as I am able to do here. The handkerchief was made for me by my mother, you see. She was bedridden mostly in those last months I shared with her. She had taken to sewing and knitting to keep herself busy when she was able." He strokes his hands over yours, smiling wistfully. You offer the handkerchief back to him, touched that he allowed you to use it. 

He shakes his head, closing your fingers around the scrap of cloth with a firm press of his hand. "Please, keep it. I know not if you will be able to retain such things in the waking world, but it does not hurt to try. I would be most pleased for you to have something that was mine." 

You fold the cloth gently before tucking it away into your armor. 

Haurchefant smiles at you, pleased. 

You reach out to touch his cheek, hands trembling with emotion. There's so much you want to say. You want to yell at him for being so damn heroic. You want to sob in his arms because he left you all alone. You want to kiss him. By the twelve you want to kiss him so badly. Your eyes drop to his lips. They look soft, inviting. You lean in, entranced as he parts his lips to speak.

"My, my. How bold you've become in my absence." He murmurs, stroking gentle fingers over the curve of your cheek. You pause, tearing your gaze from his mouth to look into his eyes. The corner of his eyes crinkle in a smile. "Would that I had been so bold in our earlier days together. You may do as you please. You lead, and I shall follow. Just as always."

Such permission was all you needed. The first press of his lips against yours sends a shock through you straight to your toes. You pull back, staring with wide eyes at him. He is in the same state, eyes wide and face flushing sweetly. "What a strange feeling. Did you feel it, too?" He says, voice strangled. You nod. You had felt it, too. You dive in for another kiss, deciding you liked that feeling. 

The second kiss is the same as the first, a shock pulsing through you at the touch of his lips. Much like the tingly feeling you get when you hear something enjoyable. Goosebump inducing. You shudder, parting your lips to swipe your tongue over the seam of his lips. He gasps, groaning deep in his chest as you lick into his mouth.

He clutches as you desperately, sliding his hands from your face down your neck and shoulders, to grip at your arms. You suck his bottom lip into your mouth, tugging on it with your teeth before nipping at it. You soothe the hurt you made with another hot swipe of your tongue. Haurchefant whines deep in his throat, utterly flustered. He pushes back from you, pupils blown wide as he gasps in front of you. The blush on his face has spread to his ears, endearing him to you even further. You want to bite at his ears. They had always been attractive to you. You make a needy sound in your throat, you need to kiss him again. Why were you not kissing this very moment? You lean in, intent on kissing some more.

He holds up a hand, shaking his head. "I worry what affect such actions will have on you. What toll will this take on you? I am able to touch you here, but at what cost to you? Surely this is your energy fueling this entire dreamscape."

You press close, wishing you could smell him. You struggle to remember what he smelled like before. Clean, and like the metal of his chainmail. It seems you could feel him here, but not taste or smell anything. How frustrating. You want to know what his mouth tastes like. Would he taste like cocoa? You want to take in his smell. You miss him so much, you could cry. 

You blink back tears, feeling frustrated. "I just want to be with you. I don't care about anything else. We don't have to do anything you don't want to do. Just, please, let me touch you?" Haurchefant stares at you, sighing. He opens up his arms to you, catching you easily as you throw yourself into his arms. "I wish this was real. I can't smell you here. Can't taste you. I can feel you, but everything else? It just... isn't there."

Haurchefant chuckles, squeezing you gently. "What do you expect, my dear? This is, after all, still a dream. No matter how realistic it seems." You cuddle closer, feeling the loss of him more than ever. 

You reach out to grasp his hand, only for your fingers to slip through his like air. You pull back, staring at his hands in dismay. He was turning transparent again! You look at at his face, your own face crumpling at his sad expression. "Don't go." You whimper, reaching out to touch his cheek. He closes his eyes, turning his face into your hand. "Oh, my dear. Do you not realize? It has always been you to leave. All but for that last time. You are waking from your dream."

You watch with horror as your dreamscape of Camp Dragon head, based in his main building, disappears before your very eyes. The colors and light vanishing in a rain of sparkling lights, leaving you in a sea of endless white. You turn to stare at Haurchefant, tears dripping down your cheeks. "I don't want to go!" 

He's completely transparent now. He's smiling sadly at you, shaking his head. "You cannot live in a dream, my dear. Oh, don't look at me so." You shake your head, shoulders shaking with repressed sobs. He reaches out to touch you, only to pause as he realizes he can't anymore. "Ah, how quickly I become used to touching you. Please, do not cry. I cannot bear the sight of your tears." The world is shaking around you now, the muffled sound of someone calling your name filling the empty whiteness with sound. 

You try to block out the sound, staring into Haurchefant's eyes, unable to say goodbye as you're pulled from your dreamscape without warning. 

You blink your eyes open to find Alphinaud staring at you, face filled with worry. "Are you alright? You fell asleep in such a strange place, my friend. Are you feeling well?" You look around, staring at the slowly emptying square. It seems you've slept through the last of the festivities.

You're leaning against a building, where you had likely slumped over in your sleep. You sit upright to rub at your tired eyes. You jerk to a stop as you see a flash of familiar cloth peaking out of your armor. With trembling fingers you tug it free, raising it up to eye level. 

H.F is sewn carefully into the handkerchief Haurchefant had given you in your dream. 

It had been real. He had been real. If you could bring something like this out of you dream... Oh, could it be possible to bring him back? You want that so badly, it hurts.

Alphinaud murmurs your name, touching your shoulder. You look at him, eyes welling up with happy tears. "Are you alright, my friend?" You nod your head, clutching the handkerchief to your chest, over your heart. 

You look up to the sky, watching as the finale of fireworks flares in bright bursts across the night sky. Red, blue, green, and gold. It was beautiful. "I think I will be."

**Author's Note:**

> Ahhh. I hoped you liked it! >.> I just can't seem to stop myself from writing kissing scenes. It's like an addiction. Maybe one day I'll write something a bit more than that, but for now I am just a lowly fluff writer. Sorry!


End file.
